The European Commission has approved a €300 million grant in state aid to Nuward, a French developer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The funds will be spent on testing the technology, and the financial support is more than expected before the start of the project, reports Euractiv.
SMRs range in power generation capacity from 2 to 300 MW. Depending on their size, they can meet local demand for electricity or heat in isolated communities or industrial sites, and also replace coal and gas-fired power plants.
With its 300 MW reactor under development, EDF subsidiary Nuward wants to play a role in replacing Europe's remaining coal-fired power plants.
The company is aiming for the project to start in 2030, with commissioning before 2035, a time more or less in line with the European Commission's ambitions.
Project development
The commission commented that with this state aid scheme, Nuward is entering the third stage of its five-stage development, focusing on research and development efforts until early 2027. This stage includes "going into the design details of all the equipment and making a complete model of the power plant, Nuward explained.
"At the same time, we make sure that the overall system is consistent and that once all the components are assembled, they will ensure proper operation with the expected performance," the company added.
In other words, the purpose of the measure is to test and test the modules and components of future SMRs to ensure that they can be produced on an industrial scale.
The grants are also aimed at preparing the safety demonstrations necessary for the project to be approved by the national nuclear safety authorities.
EUR 500 million in total support
The latest funding announcement follows a €50 million state aid scheme announced in December 2022 that supported Nuward's second stage of development.
Total public support for the initiative is expected to reach €500 million thanks to a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron in February 2022 in which he announced a "nuclear renaissance".
"Thanks to this funding provided by the state for the development of the Nuward SMR, Nuward benefits from support comparable to that of its competitors, especially American ones," the company said.
The industry claims that SMRs will unlock significant cost reductions in nuclear power, and there is international competition between the US, Russia, China and Europe to be the leader in this new technology.
Commission support
The European Commission has made SMR a key component of its efforts to decarbonise the EU economy by 2050 and supports the SMR Industry Alliance, which was officially launched in February this year.
The alliance will bring together key stakeholders from the sector, such as politicians, industry representatives and civil society, in line with similar efforts to develop electric batteries, solar energy and hydrogen.